Las Vegas – The visible scars have healed, the incision needed to repair the left anterior cruciate ligament just more than two years ago is fading, the arthroscopic port holes on the right knee in which surgeons mended the torn meniscus he sustained 10 games into the last regular season is disappearing.

And judging from his demeanor here at Team USA training camp as he vies for a spot on the 12-man team that will attempt to defend its World Cup title next month in Madrid, one-time NBA most valuable player Derrick Rose is again playing with an outlook that befits his surname.

"I've been preparing for this for a long time," Rose told a gaggle of reporters who surrounded him following his first on-court workout here. "It's probably big for everybody else because they haven't seen me. It's kind of weird. People are kind of like in awe to even see me run down the floor, like I'm handicapped or something.

"This is only the beginning of a long journey. But my confidence level is through the roof."

Rose has recaptured the swagger that helped him lead the Chicago Bulls back into playoff relevancy, winning the league's MVP award in 2010-11, before running into injury woes that limited him to just 39 regular-season games before crashing with calamity in the first round of the playoffs, tearing his ACL.

He sat out all of 2012-13 in the rehabilitation process, and came back strongly at the outset of last season. But just a few weeks into the year, a misstep tore the right meniscus and knocked Rose out again for the remainder of 2013-14.

It has been a long, difficult journey to recovery.

There was an on-going drama last year surrounding the question of whether Rose would be able to return to the court during another Chicago playoff push, even though Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau routinely diffused speculation of a comeback.

As Rose glided up and down the court at UNLV's Mendenhall Center here with his Team USA teammates, there was little doubt that he'd chosen the correct path back to health.

"I was ecstatic about watching him today," Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He's better than four years ago (when he was member of the 2010 World Cup winning team). Four years ago, he was 21, and he was just o the verge of becoming who he was going to be."

Which, in Rose's way of thinking, is among the best.

"I really think I'm a special player in my mind," Rose said. "And I still have youth. I'm only 25. Just doing everything I'm supposed to do in rehab, just strengthening everything, taking it one da at a time and getting the most out of every day. That's why I've been preparing for this moment, really." Thibodeau, an assistant on Krzyzewski's Team USA coaching staff, was as eager to see Rose's resurrection this week as anyone.

And what he has seen thus far is encouraging.

"We saw the quickness and the explosion in the summer league practices," Thibodeau said, referring to Rose's workouts with the Bulls' youngsters here two weeks ago. "And today, I think he was very patient. He =found the rhythm of the game.

"I thought he played well on both sides of the ball. He pushed himself. He picked up full-court. He had great technique, great effort, and he ran the team well. It's a good first step."

"He didn't even showcase everything," Davis said, "so he can really ball. I'm excited to have him back on the floor. He looked good. He was Derrick."

Rose admitted he was driven a year ago in his return to convince his doubters that he could, in fact, restore the form that earned him a rookie of the year award and All-Star appearance before his MVP season.

The proving process, it seems, will continue.

"By coming in and playing (last year), of course, I wanted to prove everybody wrong at that time," Rose said. "I just wanted it too, too bad. This time around, I just know that I've got to let the game come to me, go out there and just play.

"Usually, when I play my type of game, something positive comes out of it."

It's clear that people are pulling for Rose. His admirers here among the Team USA crowd are many, perhaps top among them Krzyzewski, a Chicago native, who has watched with a combination of awe and pathos as Rose struggled back from various surgeries.

"He's really one of the great people and the great players," Krzyzewsi said. "To get multiple injuries like that can defeat anybody mentally. I don't see that. He should be applauded for what he's doing."